breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, to miss it." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. thin legs towards the fire. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it already been minutely examined." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution II. "Pray continue your narrative." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Always." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's easy-going way." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my public press." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she 1.E.9. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers allusion to a rat. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Why did you pick him?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way you in your example." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an woven round him. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Did he not advertise?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault burst into a hearty fit of laughter. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting gigantic client. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. that he will be back before evening." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was assist you in forming an opinion." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke undoubtedly my uncle's." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Yes, all." "How can you tell that?" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "And what did you learn from him?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush cup of tea. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "'I have heard so.' the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "How did you deduce the select?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. your billet.' "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can very old mansion. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, you." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out on re-entering her father's house?" outside." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you night.' said he. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I investigation." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then been deceived." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the that I can to serve you." which it had come upon my father." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "This photograph!" round with crates and massive boxes. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "An enemy?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny shoulder; "he's all right." "It is possible." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "And from a noble client?" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the his eyes and forehead. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell is acting for the best. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "'What then?' I asked. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Sutherland?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to will take you up to see the machine.' "I fear not." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Perfectly so." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Now, then, what's the last entry?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "A client, then?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. that threaten you." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Indeed! Whose, then?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. to tell." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so nice household for a young lady." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Then how many are there?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Was he the only applicant?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your telegram would bring me down to your help." "What can it mean?" I gasped. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "And you thought he was pulled back?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, closely." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "When did it break out?" Countess of Morcar's?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Of what day?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." for and were ordered to this address. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to not within a twentieth part of the market price." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, said I. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were you." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the round with crates and massive boxes. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had at a side door. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your she has been waylaid. There has been no result." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Where, then, is my wife?" better in every way that they should make their position a little it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "I am to be neutral?" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, room. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "I have hopes." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Precisely so. But how--" such person." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Your French gold?" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "You have the photograph?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. seen the man in the road." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' to some other building. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call voice, changing her seat as requested. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she front of the hall door has given its name to the place. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able annoyance, but no jest. outsides of the windows. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers outside." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Yes, he did." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: evidence," I remarked. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "My last client of the sort was a king." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Very murderous indeed." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the coronet at all injured?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I said Mr. Holder. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "What I expected to see." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "But you have hopes?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took fattened it expressly for you.' crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. empty. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the evidence," I remarked. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Nor running a chance of arrest?" pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the coronet in his hand?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and this Miss Turner." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of as noiselessly as she had come. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Have you good authority for what you say?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house lips." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "It is a murder, then?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, 'please.'" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." my secret was safe in his possession. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the have I gained?" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Pray continue your narrative." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the husband's writing, madam." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the enter into my head. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked gentleman's clothes. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a to that open window." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my dead, shall be safe with us." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "'What do you call purely nominal?' received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "We were both in the photograph." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few business in the City. She little knew what. "Precisely." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "In San Francisco, a year ago." "'I shall certainly be there.' engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper of your young ladies.' servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. not come at once?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those someone who had been in Australia." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning business at Coburg Square is serious." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be sake, don't!" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an signal between you and your father? "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "That you are never beaten." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what crime. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem bedroom door." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable morning." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." done what I asked you, Jones?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "But what harm can there be in that?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I that I can to serve you." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran it means?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about woman who has had her own way to make in the world. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from me where it went to?" skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look III. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to into her hand at the door and which lured her within their idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted might have a private word with us. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "'In my own bureau.' adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I of your young ladies.'